She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 70

"Well? What did you find out about the new director?" Connor Sterling asked.

Connor was the younger brother of Bertram Sterling, the city's wealthiest man. He was universally respected in elite circles. He had a son and a daughter with his wife, but Nadia was his biological daughter, whom they had only managed to track down and bring home a few years ago.

Nadia tossed her phone onto the sofa, looking entirely relaxed. "Her last name is Atherton. Apparently, she's totally useless. Nothing we need to worry about."

She knew Abby was notoriously strict and incredibly rigid. She judged everyone solely on their merit, despised wealthy elites coasting on privilege, and fiercely respected true capability. Back in college, Nadia had purposefully hidden her connection to the Sterling family. As a result, none of her professors or peers knew who she really was—they all assumed she was just an ordinary student from out of town. During that time, Abby had been incredibly supportive and had taken Nadia under her wing. If even Abby was calling the new director a fraud, the woman clearly had absolutely zero actual talent.

"Caspian was raving about how she was Conrad's prized pupil. Looks like he was full of it," Nadia sneered. Her tone was laced with disdain—not just for the new R&D Director, but fueled by a deep, lingering resentment toward Caspian.

Hearing this, Connor took a leisurely sip of his tea. "You don't need to waste any energy worrying about Caspian. At the end of the day, he's just an outsider. Your Uncle Bertram values bloodlines above all else, and he doesn't have any children of his own. As long as you keep proving how exceptional you are, the entire Sterling empire will eventually belong to you."

Which meant it would belong to his side of the family!

Just thinking about the sheer scale of that wealth made Connor's blood hum with excitement.

He was endlessly thankful that he had managed to find Nadia. Because she looked so much like him, his older brother Bertram had immediately taken a massive liking to her and was currently grooming her for success.

If that previous girl—Hulda—had still been around, his side of the family would never have seen the light of day.

It was just a shame his own son was such a massive disappointment and completely failed to win Bertram's favor.

But it didn't matter. Once Nadia successfully inherited the empire from Bertram, he would just convince her to sign everything over to her brother.

After all, she was a girl. She would marry into someone else's family eventually.

Nadia had absolutely no idea what dark calculations were running through her father's head. She was too busy thrilling at his words.

While Ursula had clearly attempted to splice in a few original ideas and altered data points to cover her tracks, it was glaringly obvious that her additions were fundamentally flawed.

If they actually proceeded to physical testing based on Ursula's altered framework, the results would be catastrophically dangerous.

"This is completely unacceptable..." Hulda muttered, her brow furrowed in absolute fury. Without a second of hesitation, she slammed her finger onto the intercom button, dialing Abby's extension.

Out at her desk, Abby was in the middle of casually compiling some data. When she saw the director's extension flashing on her screen, a look of profound annoyance washed over her face.

She intentionally let it ring five or six times before finally picking it up with a heavy sigh. "Yes, Director Atherton? Is there a problem?"

"Yes, there's a massive problem. Notify every single researcher immediately. I want everyone in the main conference room in exactly half an hour."

It was Hulda's very first absolute command as the newly appointed R&D Director.